Twin Image: Family, Before Anything

Chapter 25

~Five months later~

-August 5th, Friday~

~Tobias' POV~

I grab a bottle of my breast milk out of the fridge and I hand it over to my little Rosie, before bending over to pick up the bottle of juice my one of my three-year-old's just finished. I throw it away and tie my hair into a bun before finishing up my ten-year-old's lunch pack. My twins run through the kitchen, and around the island, making me drop his lunch box. Well, almost drop his lunch box. I float it back up to me, making sure everything was where I put it, and I pick up another empty juice box as I take my son his lunch. I put it in his backpack as he stands in front of his father.

Today's his second day being a fifth grader, and right now, he's getting his pep talk from his dad. Although I know our boy won't need one, "Okay dad, I hear you." My son says, and I gasp along with his father. That would be the first time he's ever called him anything other than 'daddy'. "What did you just call me?" He asks playfully, and our little scholar starts smiling and playing with his bottom lip. "Did you just call me dad? He just called me dad. Oh god." He over exaggerates, with a hand over his heart as he falls back onto his butt from his squatting position, making our son laugh.

"It's official, I'm old." He says, making me laugh. I look down to see my son's shoe is untied, "No babe, you're not old. This just means someone's growing up." I tell him, squatting down and tying my son's shoe. "Yeah me, I'm basically deteriorating in front of you. Now that I'm 'dad' now." My husband whines, making our fifth grader laugh some more. "Mommy, dad's being whiny." Junie tells me, and I laugh-scoff in disbelief. He did not just say that.

"Damn right I am; but mommies still mommy huh? Is that right son?" His father asks him, getting back onto his feet. Junie starts backing away from him, giggling. He nods, "Because mommy still looks young." He says, and that's when my husband tickles him to the ground. "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry daddy!" He yells in between his laughing. "Yeah that's right, I'm not dad until you're just about thirteen. I already feel old, I don't need to hear how old I feel just yet." He tells him, and I pout a bit, seeming that's just about the eleventh time he's brought up how old he feels.

"You ready for your second day buddy?" He asks, and for some reason, my son starts playing with his bottom lip with his eyes looking everywhere but with his fathers. "What's wrong sweetheart?" I ask, stepping closer to my husband as he holds him. He looks up at me and I instantly know what it is. "Is someone already messing with you in school love?" I ask him, and he timidly nods his head, and I grow furious. "I-I was eating my lunch mommy packed me a-and, he came over and took my juice box and drank it and hid it before I could tell Ms. Leslie." He tells us, and I can't believe what my ears are hearing.

"Who is this little boy?" Tobias asks him, obviously just as mad as me. "Warren Pine." He tells us instantly, and I look at my husband with a brilliant idea, and I could just tell he was thinking the same thing. "Isn't that the same little boy that picked on you in fourth grade?" I ask my baby, and he nods, making both me and my husband sigh a bit. "Alright son," Tobias starts, setting him down, "This is what's gonna happen. Today, you're gonna be our big boy, and you're gonna go to class, and you're gonna sit down and learn. And if this Warren boy messes with you again, in any way, I don't care if it's just a dirty look, you tell three people." My love says, and I see where he's going with this, "The teacher, since she'll be the nearest adult." He says. "And then when we come to get you, you tell me, and you tell mommy." He adds, "And then the next day, daddies gonna visit you in class, and he's gonna be right there, watching." I tell him, and his father nods in agreement, "Like a hawk. And I'll make sure your whole class knows I'm there for one reason, and one reason only. That little boy." He makes clear, making our boy smile again. "Okay daddy. Can we go to school now?" He asks excitedly, making us smile again.